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Speaking of lions, everyone will be associated with the majestic big lion on the African grassland for the first time, especially the works such as the Lion King, which makes us have a vision for the big lion, and we don't see that everyone is very concerned about whether the South China tiger can win the lion, whether the four pit bulls can win the lion, and whether the giant panda can win the lion...
Lion: Pit lion, how come there are always people who want to harm Youwa!
However, this also shows the amazing combat strength and extraordinary impression of lions in everyone's mind, but there is a kind of "lion" that is somewhat different from the lions we usually see.
Yes, this is the mountain lion, you may have seen it, for example, there is a shoveler in Russia who has a cougar at home, just like his own cat, in other words, Russia is really hardcore, let alone black bears or other beasts, to that side all can become husky wow!
But this appearance of the mountain lion is also too far from the image of the traditional lion, right? And the Americas and Africa are so far apart, are both lions?
In fact, although the mountain lion has a lion in its name, it is not a lion in essence, and the reason why it will be called a mountain lion is that there is a tortuous history behind it!
The cougar living in the land of the Americas itself actually belongs to the subgenus of the mountain lion in the feline family, and the cat that is most closely related to it is the small wild cat slender-waisted cat living in South America, and then the cheetah, that is to say, if you really want to talk about it, the cougar is really a big cat!
But they all blame the group of adventurers who set foot in the Americas at that time, when they first saw the mountain lion, they thought it was similar to the female lion in the African lion!
Cougar: You're the mother! Your whole family is a mother! Am I a pure straight man of steel?
The Indians called this big cat two main names, the Inca part was called PUMA, and the Tupi part was called sassúarána (later misrepresented as cougar), but neither of these names had the meaning of lion, and it was also thought that the Indians had never seen a lion, how could there be such an impression as a lion?
Similar to the way we call the striped big cat a tiger and the spotted big cat a leopard, the local two names of the cougar actually mean the American big cat, but because of the language barrier, the adventurers gave these big american cats a cougar name, and it was spread after Columbus opened a new channel, and gradually became remembered the name of the mountain lion.
It is because of the order of succession that this American big cat had to bear the name of the lion, and assuming that the first to be found was PUMA (American big cat), and then the African lion was discovered, then it is likely that those big lions have to be renamed african puma!
This also shows how unobtrusive everyone is when naming names, and the mountain lion is obviously a creature closer to the leopard!
This can also be found from the habits and behavior logic of the mountain lion, it is better at climbing and jumping than the lion, can move freely in rugged mountain and forest areas, likes to live alone but does not hate socializing, and can get along with and even share food in front of partners.
Hunting is mainly based on small and medium-sized herbivores such as sheep and deer, and occasionally preys on poultry, like leopards, who like to hide excess food in trees as a backup.
However, on various information platforms, we will find that the cougar is also called the American Golden Cat, but in fact, the blood relationship between the golden cat and the mountain lion is very different, and the two cannot be the same kind of creatures.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > why is there such a misunderstanding? </h1>
Because the Asian golden cat is called Cattopuma temminckii in English, and Cattopuma is understood to be a cat that resembles a cougar, it should be the Asian golden cat being changed to the Asiatic lion or the Asian mountain lion, not the cougar being changed to the American golden cat!
Not only is there no blood relationship between the two, but even the distribution area is very different, but even in this way, the name of the American Golden Cat is still included in the encyclopedia, and even many people swear to introduce to others, the mountain lion is called the American Golden Cat!
This is a problem of naming confusion, but fortunately, the term American golden cat is only circulated on the Internet, and the academic community does not recognize this term.
Many people think that since this is the case, then the mountain lion should be very protected, just like our giant panda, after all, it looks similar to a cat and looks very cute!
But in fact, the current situation of mountain lion survival is not optimistic, the territory of the Americas is 4206.8 square kilometers, equivalent to more than four Chinese land area, there are 6 subspecies (32 types) distributed among them, that is to say, the mountain lion is not only one that everyone imagines, it has different biological structures and different populations in different regions.
However, the Florida subspecies (Florida leopard) because of its unique fur, many hunters have chosen to hunt it to obtain precious fur, by 2017 statistics, the Florida subspecies of captive mountain lions is only 75, and the wild number is below 500, entering the critical danger category.
According to a 2011 wildlife organization, the eastern cougar was not truly extinct until 79 years after it became extinct, and in addition, the subspecies of the Costa Rican cougar and the louisiana cougar subspecies are in the wild.
Today, there are only 140,000 mountain lions spread over 4,000 square kilometers of land, and they have been persecuted for a long time.
Aside from hunting, one of the biggest reasons for the decline in mountain lion populations is the loss of habitat!
As big cats, mountain lions have a high demand for territory, just like a mountain that does not allow two tigers, and with their demand for food, the average small forest is simply unable to keep them alive.
But human footprints are everywhere, and there are now few habitats for wild mountain lions, which is an important reason why many mountain lions have entered the low-risk sequence.
In addition, there are many large farms in the Americas, and mountain lions will attack domestic poultry and livestock in the absence of food, which is also the reason for the deterioration of the relationship between the two.
In addition, the value of the cougar itself is also quite high, this kind of native big cat that has lived in the Americas for thousands of years, but now it is driven by a group of outsiders to even return home, how ironic?
But it is the most indispensable part of the ecology of the Americas, and I only hope that in the future, we can continue to see this poor creature that is obviously a big cat but is called a lion and a golden cat, and sometimes humans are the top predators!